Iran and its Arab neighbours were plunged back into war on Wednesday by the biggest exchange of fire between Tehran and Washington since July, with US forces striking Iran's southern coast and Iran firing at American bases across the region.
The United States threatened more devastating strikes. Iran accused Washington of hitting a wedding party, killing five people and wounding dozens.
Asian and European stocks fell after the renewed US airstrikes, which pushed oil prices back up to levels unseen since July, compounding the economic impact of a global sell-off in bonds as disrupted energy supplies fuel inflation worldwide.
The US military's Central Command said it struck Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps air defences, radar systems, maritime assets, mine-laying capabilities and communications sites on Tuesday. Iranian media reported hits on multiple targets near the Strait of Hormuz — the narrow waterway where Tehran has threatened tankers attempting to pass without its permission.
Iran responded by striking what it said were US assets in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and Iraq, and said its aim was now to drive US forces out of the vast network of military bases they have maintained for decades across the Middle East.
"American evil in the region will be met with heavier, more widespread, and devastating responses, and any country that cooperates with the aggressive American army must accept its dangerous consequences," Iran's military command said.
Jordan's military said it dealt with 13 missiles, 10 of which were intercepted and three which fell in remote areas. The IRGC said it killed a large number of US forces in Jordan, but US officials told Reuters there had not been any casualties, according to initial assessments.
In Kuwait, Iran said it had carried out a missile and drone attack on the vast US Ali Al Salem Air Base and targeted the accommodation of a US commander. Kuwait’s fire service said crews put out a blaze at a residential complex early on Wednesday that was struck by an Iranian drone causing damage but no casualties.
Qatar, home of the largest US airbase in the Persian Gulf, said it, "holds the Islamic Republic of Iran fully legally responsible for these attacks and their repercussions and consequences."
Bahrain, which houses the regional headquarters of the US Navy, said Iranian drones were intercepted and destroyed.
The IRGC said its ground forces carried out combined missile and drone attacks on US bases in Erbil in northern Iraq, claiming to have killed several US personnel there. Neither Iraq nor the US confirmed the attack.
Iran also said two tankers had been struck by mines while being steered across the Strait of Hormuz by US operatives through a channel that Tehran says it has closed.
The exchange of fire was the worst since July, when US President Donald Trump abruptly halted two weeks of intense bombing of Iran after warnings from his military brass that they were using up munitions and running out of meaningful targets.
Iran's war-battered economy and degraded conventional forces have left it stretched thin, while Washington has used up much of its stocks of air defence munitions and burned through its precision long-range missiles.
Still, Trump repeated his declarations that victory was at hand.
"I like our position now much better, with almost total control of the Hormuz Strait, and their economy totally collapsing," he said on Tuesday. "They are just playing out the inevitable. When are the Iranian people going to rise up and fight?"
Iran, for its part, is determined to humble US forces and emerge from the war stronger than before it, with sanctions lifted, billions in blocked funds released, and its newfound grip over the strait letting it collect fees from ships that carried a fifth of global oil before the war.
Trump agreed to many of Tehran's demands in a June deal, but the ceasefire collapsed within weeks over control of the strait, and no talks between the foes have been held since.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington and Ahmed Tolba in Cairo; Additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi and Jana Choukeir in Dubai, Idrees Ali and Daphne Psaledakis in Washington, and Yasmine Ghania and Muhammad Al Gebaly in Cairo; Writing by Daniel Trotta, Stephen Coates, Peter Graff; Editing by Saad Sayeed, Sharon Singleton, Alexandra Hudson)